Press Release

Tigray Human Rights Condemns the unwarranted actions of the Ethiopian government to block investigation by the independent UN human rights inquiry.

March 20, 2023 – Tigray Human Rights Forum is calling on the Ethiopian government to immediately stop hindering the United Nations’ independent human rights investigation into the atrocities being committed in the country. We particularly call up the 52 UN Human Rights Council and member states to support the ICHREE in investigating the war atrocities in Tigray. It is to be noted that the UN-mandated Commission of Human Rights Experts, which was established to investigate human rights and humanitarian law violations committed, particularly in the Tigray region, did not do much mainly due to continued obstacles posed by Ethiopia and its ally countries. 

Despite signing a peace agreement in Pretoria, the Ethiopian government has been obstructing the UN experts from conducting investigations  and has refused to allow them into the country. This obstruction is a clear violation of the government’s obligations under international law and calls into question its commitment to protecting human rights, ensuring transitional justice and the rule of law.

The Commission of Human Rights Experts should be allowed to independently investigate extrajudicial executions, mass rapes, starvation crimes and other war atrocities perpetrated in the Tigray war. The experts have been working tirelessly to collect evidence and interview witnesses, but the Ethiopian government continue to thwart their efforts.

Tigray Human Rights is deeply concerned by the actions of the Ethiopian government and urges it to cease obstructing the UN investigation. We are of a firm believe that a credible international investigation is a crucial step to avoid the recurrence of war in the region and to help the long healing process. The investigation is crucial to ensuring that those responsible for the atrocities are held to account.

It is, therefore, crucial that the international community should reject the organized campaign aimed at disbanding the UN-mandated human rights experts. These campaigns are an attempt to undermine the work of the UN and prevent the truth from being uncovered. The international community needs to stand firmly with the UN and its experts and put pressure on the Ethiopian government to do the same.

The international community has a responsibility to hold the Ethiopian government to account. Let the United Nations investigation proceed unhindered, and perpetrators of the atrocities be brought to justice. The world is watching, and the Ethiopian government must act in accordance with its international obligations to protect the human rights of all its citizens.

Promoting Human Rights for Peace and Development.